House hearing highlights need for federal water infrastructure financing programs

The Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee held a hearing on March 11, 2025, to examine the benefits to state and local communities of federal water infrastructure financing programs, including the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Water Infrastructure and Finance Innovation Act (WIFIA) programs, and how those programs may be improved to help communities improve their water infrastructure.

The Subcommittee heard witness perspectives from throughout the water infrastructure project application and construction pipeline.

Witnesses discussed the importance of the CWSRF and WIFIA programs to states’ and local communities’ ability to finance their water infrastructure needs, including for smaller and rural communities.

“The creation of the WIFIA program in 2014 by this Committee was a very important addition to the suite of federal assistance for water infrastructure,” said Mike Matichich, economic and financial services consulting lead for Jacobs, in a press release. “The WIFIA program filled a needed gap in the water finance landscape by broadening assistance to a wide range of borrowers and project types and giving larger projects access to credit assistance that otherwise would have been difficult to obtain through SRF programs.”

Witnesses highlighted the need to cut red tape and streamline program efficiency.

“The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 established the WIFIA program – another tool that has helped meet America’s water infrastructure needs,” said Dan Buckley, preconstruction executive mid-Atlantic for Garney Construction, in a press release. “WIFIA’s broader eligibility requirements have helped expand access to financing for communities across the country, and we call on Congress to build on the program’s successes by reauthorizing WIFIA and the State Infrastructure Financing Authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) programs alongside the SRFs.”